


I Once Was Lost

by malinaldarose (coralysendria)



Category: James Bond (Craig movies), The Tomorrow People (1992)
Genre: Community: trope_bingo, Crossover, Gen, Mind Control, Trope Bingo Amnesty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-01
Updated: 2018-01-01
Packaged: 2019-02-25 23:11:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13223208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coralysendria/pseuds/malinaldarose
Summary: "Ami!  Is it you?""I'm sorry, ma'am.  You've mistaken me for someone else.  My name is Eve Moneypenny."Ami has been missing for seven years when Eve runs into Ami's mother....





	I Once Was Lost

**Author's Note:**

> This fills the Mind Control square on my Trope Bingo card for Round 9.
> 
> A colon followed by italics _:thus:_ indicates telepathic speech. (Yes. Completely lifted from Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar series.)

Eve was unsurprised that her dreams were disturbed the night after she killed James Bond. It had been a busy day, after all, and there was a great deal for her subconscious to process, including the fact that -- accident or no -- she had killed a colleague. Her dreams were full of M's voice barking out the command to fire, and the crack of the rifle as she complied. Oddly, though, she never saw Bond fall.

The next morning she made her way back to London to face M.

"I don't think much of your marksmanship," M sniffed, staring out the window of her office. Eve, meanwhile, stood nearly at attention on the other side of M's desk. Eve suspected M didn't want her to see her face, though why she would bother -- M's poker-face was legendary.

"With respect, ma'am," Eve replied, "I didn't have a clear shot, and I said so at the time."

M did face her at that. "So Bond's death is my fault, then, is that what you're saying?"

Eve withheld her sigh. Whether M intended it or not, Eve could hear the pain in M's voice; she could almost _feel_ the older woman's grief. "I'm not saying anything of the sort, ma'am," she said gently.

M's lips thinned, but she didn't address Eve's response. She turned back to the window. "Suspension from field duties pending your mandatory psych evaluations," she announced. "Go home, Moneypenny. Clean up and get some rest. Report back to me in the morning for your interim assignment."

Eve rose from her chair. "Yes, ma'am. Thank you, ma'am."

Tanner, M's ubiquitous assistant, glanced at her in sympathy, but did not speak. There was nothing he could say, in any case. This hadn't been Eve's first field assignment, but it had been the first time she had killed anyone. So of course she would manage to kill M's favorite double-oh. How did you even _do_ that? Double-ohs were _supposed_ to be indestructible. Certainly any number of megalomaniacs, would-be dictators, and generally bad people had tried to kill Bond over the years, but none had managed it until he was shot by his own backup.

Which probably explained why Bond had always preferred to work alone.

As ordered, Eve went home. Her house was modest, but comfortable, with a garden that was deliberately overgrown to create a private haven. She had gone to M's office directly from the airport; although she had cleaned up as best she could while waiting for her flight, she desperately wanted a shower. But first, tea.

She took the steaming mug out onto the terrace. She had been in Istanbul long enough that the bright London summer felt a bit cool to her. She sat with the mug cupped in her hands, staring out at the corner near the space reserved for a zen garden. A single boulder rose from the surrounding sand like a sub's conning tower breaching the ocean's surface. _Or a spaceship on a beach_ , the thought whispered through her mind.

"Now I know I'm tired," she said. She finished her tea, but didn't look at the rock again.

~*~*~

As before, her dreams that night are filled with M's voice and the sounds of rifles. She once again does not see Bond fall. In between repetitions of these, though, there is something new. Or old. A sound. It might be music. And an impression of golden light.

But when Eve wakes in the morning, she does not remember it.

~*~*~

She reported to M's office promptly at 8:00 a.m. She was unsurprised to see that M and Tanner were already there; she would wonder if they had even gone home, were they dressed differently from the previous day. For a moment, she amused herself with a vision of the pair of them living in empty offices in the MI6 building.

"Good morning, Moneypenny," M said. Although she did occasionally indulge in the sort of power play where she left a subordinate standing and waiting for her attention, this morning she did not, but gestured for Eve to take a seat. 

"Good morning, ma'am," Eve replied before she complied. She nodded to Tanner, but quickly returned her gaze to M.

"I thought you would want to know that they have not yet found 007's body," M informed her. "But as it has been more than forty-eight hours, it is extremely unlikely that he survived."

The news, and M's forthright delivery, hit her like a punch to the gut, but she held M's gaze. Now was not the time to show any weakness. She had so hoped that Bond would saunter back into the office, the missing hard drive in his pocket, and,with a wry quip, hand her a bill for dry cleaning his ruined suit. She had even planned to point out that the bloodstains on his right shoulder were not her fault.

M held her eyes a moment longer, then nodded slightly. "For the moment, you are being reassigned as an analyst. You'll be working with Tanner; he'll get you set up with a desk up here. The first of your psych sessions is this afternoon with Doctor Hall. I want your report on my desk before you leave for the day."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Very well, then. Tanner, get her set up." This time, M did pick up a folder and start looking through it. Eve did not laugh.

"If you'll follow me, Miss Moneypenny?" Tanner held the door for her and gestured her through.

"Thank you," she said softly. "You can call me Eve."

He nodded, but as the door shut, said -- equally softly -- "It's last names or titles in front of M, I'm afraid, Miss Moneypenny."

"Ah." Eve nodded and tucked the information away. She had rarely even seen M before the Istanbul mission, let alone talked to her; usually only the double-oh section reported directly to her. "Is there anything else I should know?"

"Probably," Tanner said, "but you'll end up sticking your foot in something, anyway."

"Does shooting Bond count as sticking my foot in it?" Somehow, she couldn't bring herself to say "killing."

"That would be a stellar example," Tanner agreed. He stopped at a desk between two others in the outer office area. "We'll put you here; you'll be out of her direct view, which is probably for the best."

Eve huffed a laugh. "Can she kill with her laser eyes?"

"You'd be surprised," Tanner said with a slight smile.

"Somehow, I don't think I would," Eve said with a glance over her shoulder.

~*~*~

She reported to Doctor Hall's office that afternoon precisely on time. The medical section was of a piece with the rest of the building: bright and modern with plenty of illumination and lots of smooth, gleaming surfaces. Even the hospital corners of the sheets in the infirmary managed to shine. Eve didn't particularly care for Medical, but as a field agent -- former field agent -- she no longer saw a doctor outside the agency. Her assigned physician, Doctor Marsh, was brisk, efficient, and entirely lacking in warmth or anything approaching a bedside manner, and Eve saw entirely too much of her as it was.

The section receptionist sent Eve straight into the psychiatrist's office. Unlike the rest of the medical section, Doctor Hall's office was like a professor's study, all gleaming wood, warm colors, and overstuffed chairs. Books lined the walls, while thick carpet absorbed the sound of her heels.

"Wow," Eve said, turning to take it all in. "All that's missing is a fireplace."

Doctor Hall smiled. "I spend enough time in my office that I wanted it to be comfortable."

"For whom?"

"For me, chiefly," he answered immediately. "The rest of you are on your own."

Eve smiled slowly. "Fair enough."

He pushed back his chair and gestured to a cluster of seats across the room. Eve took the corner of a couch; he took a wing back chair situated so that he could see her face.

"So," he said, looking steadily at her. "You are here for evaluation. I hope you understand that you are not being singled out; it's standard procedure whenever there is a shooting."

"Unless you're a double-oh," Eve said dryly. 

Doctor Hall shrugged. "Unless you're a double-oh. But we all know that section lives by different rules than the rest of us. Tell me what happened, Eve."

She shrugged. "I was ordered to take the shot. I obeyed."

"And then?"

"And then Bond fell. It was a long way down."

"Is that all?"

"Yes, of course. Why would there be more?"

"Most people are a bit upset when they shoot someone."

"Unless they're a double-oh," Eve said even more dryly than before.

Doctor Hall smiled faintly. "Fair point. Are you hoping for a promotion to that section, then, Eve?"

"Hardly. I'm not...cold enough for that."

"I see. So how did you feel about shooting Bond?"

Eve paused to gather her thoughts. "Awful. I know it wasn't my fault, Doctor. I told M that I didn't have a clear shot, but she ordered me to shoot anyway. What was I supposed to do? I took the shot."

"Did you consider _not_ taking the shot?"

Eve thought about that, casting her mind back. Had she hesitated? She couldn't remember a hesitation. "No."

"Tell me, how are you sleeping?"

"Just fine."

"No dreams? Nightmares?"

She shook her head. "Not that I know of."

"Appetite all right?"

"Yes."

"How are your headaches? Have you had any since the incident?"

"None. I haven't had one in a while," Eve said. She was not surprised that Doctor Hall knew about her migraines. She had had them for as long as she could remember; she rather fancied that the pain she endured during one would have even Bond writhing. Or would have had, anyway. Fortunately, as long as she faithfully took the medicine that Doctor Marsh prescribed, they appeared to be under control.

"You are maintaining your medication regimen, then?"

"Of course." One tablet first thing in the morning, _every_ morning, and another if she had breakout pain, even if she was on a mission. Which, since she had managed to kill M's golden boy, she would probably never have to worry about again.

"All right, then. Well, Eve, I regret to inform you that we now have to run through some rather boring testing, word association and the like. Are you ready?"

She nodded. "It's what I'm here for, Doctor."

They spent the next hour running through a battery of standard tests, many of which Eve had had to take in order to be certified for the field. When they were finished, Doctor Hall sent her back to her desk with an appointment to see him again in a week.

~*~*~

She dreams again that night. In the dream, a golden glow limns the delicately curving arches of a strange room. She looks out the window and sees shifting grey-green water. She is beneath the sea, she realizes, as a colorful fish darts past. Strange notes sound. She hears them both with her ears and in her mind.

Voices call her name, except that it doesn't sound like her name.

~*~*~

Eve woke to the fading memory of her dream. She still remembered that someone had called her name, but that it hadn't been "Eve." She distinctly remembered two syllables. As she strained to remember, knowing that it was somehow important that she do so, pain stabbed behind her right eye. Apparently telling Doctor Hall that she hadn't had a migraine in a while had been tempting fate. She hurried to the bathroom and swallowed a migraine tablet before she even brushed her teeth.

By the time she finished her shower, the pain was only a ghost of a memory. The dream was forgotten altogether.

~*~*~

Even world class secret agents visit the dentist, or shop for groceries, or occasionally go to a movie. While Eve was definitely not world class, she supposed she did qualify as a secret agent. She was also aggravated that her favorite tea was sold out at the market she usually visited and she had to go across town to find it. She had just pulled it from the shelf when she heard a gasp.

"Ami!" a woman's voice said. "Is it you?"

She turned to find a middle-aged woman staring at her. The woman's hand drifted to her mouth.

"It is you!" she said. "Where have you been?"

Eve smiled gently and shook her head. "I'm sorry, ma'am, but you've mistaken me for someone else. My name is Eve Moneypenny."

"But..." The woman's eyes filled with tears. "You...you're not Ami?"

Eve shook her head. "No, ma'am. I'm sorry. Who is she?"

"My daughter," the woman said. "Ami Jackson. She's been missing for years. You look exactly like her."

Eve felt a sudden twinge behind her eye. "I'm terribly sorry, ma'am. Please excuse me." She put the box of tea back on the shelf and left the store. As she walked away from the woman, she heard her say, "I swear it was Ami, Bill! But she looked right through me...." She didn't look back. She'd feel sorry for the poor woman later, after she stopped this migraine.

By the time she got to her car, the pain had intensified. Eve fumbled a migraine pill from her purse and swallowed it dry. The bitter taste helped distract her, and, as the fast-acting medicine did its job, she blessed the sour-faced Doctor Marsh who had prescribed it.

As the migraine faded and vanished, she drove away. She did not see Ami's mother staring after her as she went. By the time she got home, the incident had completely faded from her mind.

She cursed herself for not remembering to stop for tea on the way home.

~*~*~

General William Damon was just hanging up from Mrs. Jackson's call when his son appeared in his office. _Appeared_ , Damon thought. _When other fathers use that word, it's not_ literal.

"Hello, Megabyte. I was just about to call you."

"Yeah, Dad, I know." He flopped into a visitor's chair, still nearly as graceless as he had been as a teen. "What's up?"

"You knew? How did you know?"

Megabyte shrugged. "Would you believe disturbance in the Force?"

"Disturbance in the Force. I see." He didn't even blink as another man simply appeared in his office. Where his son was ginger, the newcomer was brunet, somewhat taller, and his accent proclaimed his Australian origin. "Where there is one... Hello, Adam. Perhaps _you_ can explain how you knew that I was about to call you."

"Hi, General." Adam shook the general's outstretched hand before taking the other chair in front of the desk. "Actually, Megabyte's analogy is pretty accurate. You're his father, so even though you're not a telepath, when you experience a shock or strong emotion, he's going to know it."

"And what he knows, the rest of you know," Damon said, a bit sourly. "Wonderful."

"And now you're thinking of all the secrets with which you are entrusted," Adam said. "But it's not like that, General. Nothing so specific. And only a few of the others would know that there was anything amiss. Jade. Kevin. Lisa. Maybe a few of the older ones who have had more than casual contact with you."

"Ami would have known, too," Megabyte pointed out.

"Oddly enough, this is about Ami," Damon said. "I just got off the phone with Ami's mother."

Megabyte straightened in his seat, exchanging an excited look with Adam, but it was the latter who spoke. "Has she been found?" The quiet question did not convey the turmoil Damon knew that both younger men must be feeling, but the intensity of Adam's gaze could cut steel.

"Yes," Damon said. "And no." He related the substance of Hasana Jackson's telephone call.

"She's _positive_ it was Ami?" Megabyte asked.

"She's Ami's mother, Megabyte," Adam said. "Of course she'd know her."

"It's been seven years, Adam."

"If I may," Damon said, breaking into the argument before it could begin. "I think you can trust a parent to know their own child." He gave Megabyte a significant look, and his son subsided.

Ami Jackson had simply vanished. She left her mother's house to go shopping and never returned. For a while, the Tomorrow People who knew her got telepathic flashes of her; they were certain she had been kidnapped, but not even the Ship could find her. Then the flashes ceased. Where Ami had been in their minds, there was nothing. For years, there had been no sign of her. They had slowly concluded that Ami was dead.

"So how do we go about finding her again?" Megabyte asked.

"Finding her should be simple enough," Damon said. "She gave Hasana her name. Finding out what has happened to her to make her not even know her own mother may be a bit more difficult."

~*~*~

"Tea's ready," Hasana Jackson announced as she opened her front door and beckonened Adam and Megabyte into her home. "Coffee for you, Megabyte. I knew you'd be by. Go on through to the kitchen, why don't you. And thank you for ringing the bell."

"We do eventually learn manners, Mrs. Jackson," Megabyte replied, moving past her toward the back of the house. He had earned himself more than one swat when he frightened Mrs. Jackson by teleporting straight into the house.

"Now I do believe in miracles." Her smile was small, and sad, but genuinely warm. No matter what reservations she might have had about the Tomorrow People in the beginning, she had come to be quite fond of Ami's friends in the end. And she could not fault them for their diligence in trying to find Ami when she first went missing. But as the years dragged by and there was no sign of her...well, people lose hope, and she hadn't been the only one to do so.

When they were settled at the kitchen table, Mrs. Jackson in the middle and Adam and Megabyte at either end, there was a moment of silence. "I suppose you want to hear about it," she said eventually.

"Yes, please, Mrs. Jackson," Adam replied.

Despite Megabyte's crack about manners, Hasana reflected, Adam had _always_ been faultlessly polite. She thought a moment. "All right. I ran out to pick up a few things, but my usual shop hadn't had a delivery yet, so I went to a larger shop. And there she was, in the tea aisle."

"And you're _certain_ it was Ami," Megabyte said.

"Your father asked me that, too, Megabyte," she replied. "Him, I could forgive because it's his job. You, I'll have to forgive simply because you don't have children of your own yet. Of _course_ it was her. I don't know how, and I don't know why, but I _know_ it was my daughter."

"What was she doing?" Adam asked.

"Buying tea, I should imagine," Hasana said, with a withering look. "She had a box in her hand."

"And then you spoke to her?"

Hasana nodded. "She said that she was sorry, but she wasn't Ami. She told me her name was Eve Moneypenny. But then...." Her voice trailed off and her brow furrowed as she remembered the scene.

"Then?" Adam said softly. Megabyte said nothing, but Hasana sensed his stillness.

"She seemed to quite suddenly get a headache. I could tell by her face. And it seemed quite severe. She left the shop, and she was walking very fast."

"Did she check out first?" Adam asked.

Hasana shook her head. "No." She sipped her forgotten tea. "No, she didn't. She put the box back on the shelf and she left the shop. I was so shocked, that even though I followed her, I didn't get the number plate of her car."

"You saw the car, though," Megabyte said.

"Yes."

Adam waved a dismissive hand. "The car's not important, Megabyte. We know her name; we don't need to trace the car. Your dad will find out everything he can about Eve Moneypenny." He turned back to Hasana. "Mrs. Jackson, what tea was she buying?"

"It was her favorite. Ami's favorite, that is. You know, that Assam blend she always preferred."

Adam and Megabyte exchanged a glance. "Coincidence?" Megabyte asked, still playing devil's advocate.

Adam shook his head. "Too many coincidences," he said. "It must be Ami. But where has she been? And what has happened to her?"

"Accident?" Megabyte suggested. "Amnesia?"

"But we checked all the hospitals," Hasana protested. "You lot checked everywhere, and Bill got his contacts to check."

"That leaves kidnapping," Megabyte said. His hands tightened on his coffee mug; he was no stranger to kidnapping, nor was Adam. 

"She's obviously not kidnapped now," Hasana pointed out. "But she equally obviously didn't know me." She sipped her tea, both hands wrapped around the cup to hide her anguished expression, but from the glance Adam and Megabyte exchanged, she wasn't entirely successful. She could also tell that they were speaking to one another telepathically. She sighed. "That's rude, you know. And here you were just talking about learning manners."

Adam looked guilty, but Megabyte just looked surprised. "How did you know we were talking?"

She almost rolled her eyes. She hoped she was still around when _this_ one had children of his own. The sheer entertainment value of watching him learn to deal with youngsters who thought they were so much cleverer than the adults around them....

"Megabyte, did you really think I could spend so much time around you lot and _not_ know when a conversation is going on over my head? Whatever it was that you didn't want to share with me, I assure you that you can. Nothing you have to say can make me feel any worse than I have for the last seven years."

They both nodded. "Well," Megabyte said, "the reason we met -- Adam and I, that is -- was because someone was looking for telepaths to use...basically to use as spies or weapons or something. You've met Lisa." Hasana nodded. "We all got away, but...." His voice trailed off and he shrugged.

"What we're wondering is if someone kidnapped Ami for the same reason," Adam continued. "They'd have to be someone very high up in the government to be able to hide her from General Damon."

"Or someone very careful, who knew he'd be looking," Megabyte said.

"But why wouldn't they come after the rest of you?" Hasana protested.

Adam shrugged. "Maybe they couldn't. Maybe they grabbed Ami because she was alone. Target of opportunity."

"But why wouldn't she just teleport away?"

"The people who were after Lisa had figured out a way to keep a Tomorrow Person from teleporting," Megabyte said. "And we don't know what happened to all of those people. Maybe they found new patrons and just carried on, only quieter." 

"That still doesn't explain why she didn't know me," Hasana said. "Or why you can't find her telepathically."

"This is the bad part," Megabyte said. "What if whatever they did to her...is the reason we can't find her? What if that's the reason she doesn't know you?"

~*~*~

"Well," General Damon said, "I have bad news, and I have worse news. Which do you want first?"

The gentle sound of waves on the beach filled the pause that followed. They had decided that if some shadowy government agency was involved in Ami's disappearance that gathering again at either Mrs. Jackson's house or General Damon's office might be noticed. Instead, they had come to their island; Megabyte had teleported into his father's house and brought him, while Adam had brought Mrs. Jackson. 

"Gee, Dad, ever the ray of sunshine," Megabyte said.

"I guess we'd better start with the bad news," Adam added.

"The bad news is that Eve Moneypenny works for MI6," Damon said. "She was, until recently, a field agent."

"She's a spy?" Megabyte exclaimed. "But...how?"

"Until recently?" Adam asked, ignoring Megabyte.

General Damon nodded. "That's the 'worse news.' About three months ago, she was on a mission and she accidentally shot another agent. She has since been suspended from field duty and reassigned to MI6 headquarters." He looked over at Mrs. Jackson whose hands were pressed to her mouth as if to hold back a protest. "The other agent is believed to be dead, but no body has been recovered."

"It can't be Ami," Megabyte blurted, shaking his head in denial. "It can't be. We can't kill."

Adam was silent for a moment. "But it's not Ami, is it," he said slowly, feeling his way into the certainty beginning to take shape in his mind. "It's Eve."

The rest of the group looked at him quizzically, but it was General Damon's eyes he met. "She was grabbed off the street, or out of a shop. They had no reason to take her unless they knew she was a Tomorrow Person."

"But no one would know that," Megabyte protested, but his father shook his head. 

"You're careful now," he said, "but you weren't always. Plenty of people know that there are teleporters out there. They only have to connect Ami to you, for instance, Megabyte, and there you have it."

"Me?"

"You. I'm certain you won't have forgotten the night you broke out."

"No, of course not. Professor Gault and that creepy Gloria had broken into our house...." His voice trailed off as he remembered. He turned to Adam. "I teleported that night. Creepy Gloria was holding me off a second-floor balcony and I teleported right out of her hands."

"Exactly," Damon said. "So they knew she was a Tomorrow Person, and they grabbed her. They would've had to keep her from teleporting; the easiest way to do that would be to drug her."

"They'd had plenty of time to improve that helmet they'd put on Megabyte the first time they had him," Adam said.

Megabyte shrugged at that. "They wouldn't know whether that worked or not; I hadn't broken out yet when they strapped that thing on me." His mind was working on the problem now, too. "I think Dad's right. They drugged her. And every time we got one of those flashes of her was when she was coming out of it."

"So how did they turn Ami Jackson into Eve Moneypenny?" Mrs. Jackson asked. "How did they turn my little girl into a killer?"

"How did they overcome that prime inhibition?" Adam mused aloud. "They were drugging her...." His voice trailed off and he paled.

Megabyte's freckles stood out starkly on his face as he, too, blanched. He and Adam said the same word in unison. "Brainwashing."

"Is that possible?" Mrs. Jackson asked.

General Damon nodded. "It might be a bit more difficult with a Tomorrow Person, but if they suppressed her powers long enough, they could probably do it. Turn her into a whole new person."

"We need to get her back," Megabyte said. 

"Yeah," Adam agreed. "But how?"

"Snatch her back?" Megabyte suggested.

"You don't want to draw attention to yourselves," General Damon said. "You don't want them looking in your direction. Or Jade's. Or Kevin's. Or Lisa's. Besides, think about it: You teleport in, grab her, and teleport out. Where will you take her? Here? That's fine, as far as it goes, but what will she do when you get her here? She's not automatically going to become Ami again. So now you have a woman on your hands who has been trained to take care of herself, and she's going to be very upset with you. On top of that, if they're blocking her powers with drugs, you've got to consider what the withdrawal is going to be like. We could kill her by making her go cold turkey, and she could kill whoever snatched her."

"I think we could get her through withdrawal okay," Adam said, "but you're right. We can't just bring a government agent here, at least not without some planning, first."

"Maybe you wouldn't have to bring her here right away," General Damon said. "Maybe you could start by showing her things that Ami would know. If she sees enough familiar things, maybe the conditioning will break. I'm willing to bet that killing that other agent has already opened a crack, whether she knows it or not."

"And we just have to exploit that crack," Adam said, his face animated as he caught the general's reasoning.

"Bingo," Damon said, firing a finger gun in Adam's direction. He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Adam...how do you feel about moving?"

"Moving?"

"We should have someone in Ami's neighborhood. I think we should assume that she is being watched, so it can't be Megabyte. Sorry, son, but with that hair, you're too visible."

Megabyte reached up to touch his carrot-colored hair. "Yeah, you're probably right. Maybe I should start dyeing it."

Mrs. Jackson huffed a tiny laugh. "And your eyebrows? And your eyelashes? Face it, Megabyte. You are the gingerest of gingers. This is definitely not a job for you."

"All right," Adam said. "I'm going to need help moving my stuff...." He looked at Megabyte expectantly.

Megabyte groaned. "Fine. Always the bridesmaid...."

"Just...wear a hat," his father said.

~*~*~

Eve found, to her surprise, that even though she was stationed outside M's office, she very rarely saw the woman, who was often in meetings. When she and M did cross paths, which was rare, M would treat her with utterly correct, but quite chilly, courtesy. On even more rare occasions, Eve would glance up to find M's eyes upon her. She would nod politely and look back down at her work, but she began to wonder if there was something to the rumor that M could kill with her glare alone.

Her work, meanwhile, was absorbing, but hardly at the level of someone who should be stationed within immediate reach of M's office. She was doing the work of a junior analyst, truth be told, someone who would be buried in the rabbit warren of featureless cubicles on one of the lower floors, someone who wouldn't see M more than once a year, generally from a great distance, at the agency's annual memorial service.

When she said as much to Tanner, he shrugged. "I suppose you should just be glad she _didn't_ command that you be buried there," he said. "Either she thinks you have potential, or she just wants you where she can keep an eye on you."

"And eventually kill me with her laser eyes."

"And that," Tanner agreed.

Eve would sometimes find herself missing Istanbul -- the sun, the people, the markets; she had enjoyed the posting, and been thrilled to be ordered to back up a double-oh. Five agents had been killed on that mission, including Bond, and Eve's direct supervisor, William Ronson. 

On such days, Eve retired to her garden. She would sip her favorite tea and starr at the stone emerging from the rippled surface of her Zen garden. It reminded her of sunshine and warmth and, oddly, friends. She had had friends in Istanbul, but she didn't have many here in London. Strange how a place as foreign as Istanbul could come to feel more like home than the city where she had been born.

Doctor Hall often asked her how she felt about The Mission -- it long since assumed the capital letters in her thoughts. The questions irritated her, and she had started to evade them, assuring him that she was perfectly fine.

"No nightmares, then?"

She shook her head with a smile. "None at all."

He looked at her as though he didn't quite buy it, but smiled and moved on.

~*~*~

Eve was just unlocking her door when she heard a slight noise behind her. Something wet touched the back of her knee below her skirt. She whirled, dropping her purse and reaching for a gun that wasn't there -- and found herself facing a small, shaggy dog of indeterminate breeding.

"Oh, my god, dog, you scared me half to death." She looked around, but couldn't see any immediate owner. "You need to go home, my lad. Lass? Dog."

The dog wagged its tail, tongue lolling in a doggy grin. She picked up her purse, and unlocked her front door. "Shoo, dog. Go home."

The dog sat down, staring up at her expectantly. Eve sighed. It did have a collar and appeared well-cared for. Its coat was silky, and it was obviously well-fed. As far as she knew, none of her immediate neighbors had a dog. The empty place across the street and a few doors down was now occupied; perhaps the dog belonged there.

She sighed again, dropped her purse inside the front door, locked the house up again, and pocketed the key. "Well, come on, then," she said to the dog, who jumped up and followed her.

"You're well-trained, too, aren't you?" she said to the dog as it waited to cross the street and walked calmly next to her to the house in question.

The door was answered by a woman a few years younger than Eve, her blonde hair pulled back in a long ponytail. "Bonnie!" she cried when she opened the door. "Oh, you naughty thing! How did you get out? Oh, thank you for bringing her back! Come in, please, and have some tea! Alan," she called as she walked into the house, the dog capering at her side, "company!" She walked farther into the house, leaving Eve to follow.

Eve blinked, a bit taken aback by the greeting, then as she was trying to decide whether it would be rude to just walk away, a tall man with dark hair and eyes stepped into the hall. He stopped when he saw Eve hovering on the threshold, and something unnameable passed across his face. Then he rolled his eyes, and before Eve could make up her mind to leave, he stepped toward the door. "Hi. I'm Alan Norman. I take it you brought my sister's dog back?"

He extended a hand and Eve took it. "Eve Moneypenny," she said. "Yes, I brought Bonnie back; she was at my house."

"You live nearby?"

"Oh, yes, just over there," Eve said, turning and motioning toward her house.

"Great," Alan said. "Now I know one of my neighbors, so I can borrow a cup of sugar if I need to."

Eve laughed. "Any time."

"Why don't you come in, Eve? I'm pretty sure Jane has already put the kettle on."

Eve started to demur, but Alan gave her a pleading look. "Please? It'd be nice to get to know someone in the neighborhood."

"Oh...all right, then." Eve stepped into the house.

~*~*~

The light is familiar, warm and welcoming. As she touches the wall to look out at the sea, music sounds. It is mournful and yet, at the same time, as welcoming as the golden light. It has been so long since she has heard the sound. She has missed it.

The light brightens, obscuring the sea. There are other people here, she suddenly realizes. Other people who are as happy to see her as the ship. But the light is too bright. She can't see their faces. She needs to see their faces. She needs....

"Ami!" they call, but a veil falls between them, and it is...

~*~*~

Adam sighed as he read his morning paper. When Megabyte popped into existence next to him, he only said, "There's coffee," and went back to his paper. Megabyte, for his part, poured a cup and sat silently at the table, reading the portions of the paper that Adam set aside. They weren't quite finished with the paper yet when Jade joined them, the paper cup from a coffee shop she favored in her hand. Kevin arrived not long after, then Lisa.

They'd all seen Eve now, and they all agreed that Eve was their lost Ami, though they had yet to discover how the transformation was made. Eve, though, had only met Adam, Jade, and Megabyte, and she had not been told their real names. They hoped that the mismatched names might help widen the crack they hoped was already there in her mind.

"It's been weeks," Jade said gloomily. "We're not getting anywhere."

"They got to her good," Lisa agreed. She shivered; what happened to Ami could so easily have happened to her. To all of them, really. If not for Megabyte's bravery in freeing her, then his father's efforts at hiding and protecting them....

Kevin took Lisa's hand under the table and squeezed it reassuringly. She smiled back. "I'm okay," she said. She looked around the table; they were all watching her. Lisa and her mother had hidden for years after their kidnapping by Lady Mulvaney, brief though it was, especially as no criminal charges could be made to stick. It was apparent to all that Lady Mulvaney was deranged. She, in her turn, disappeared into a sanitarium, where she later died of pneumonia.

Her location was the first thing that General Damon had checked when Ami first vanished.

"We can still just grab her and take her to the Ship," Megabyte suggested. "With all of us, we could probably keep her there."

"What would happen if someone were to break out while she was there, though," Jade objected. "The beacon would draw them there; hiding the 'mad auntie,'" her fingers made air quotes, "in the attic wouldn't make a very good first impression."

"Besides which, she could just teleport away," Kevin said. 

"Could she, though?" Adam wondered. "She doesn't know who she is, and we've all tried reaching her mind. It's like trying to reach any normal person; there's nothing there. I bet she can't teleport right now."

"And if she did manage to do it unconsciously," Megabyte said, "would the beacon draw her right back to the island?"

"At the moment, it doesn't matter whether it would or not," Adam said. "We really can't take the chance." He looked around the table. "It might be time to break into MI6 and see what we can find out."

There was stunned silence around the table for a moment.

"What do you mean 'break into MI6?'" Megabyte demanded at the same time Jade said, "You think _MI6_ did this to her? But she _works_ for them!"

But Kevin and Lisa were nodding. "Think about it," Lisa said. "If they _were_ the ones to take her, how better to keep an eye on her than to _hire_ her?"

"So, what," Megabyte challenged Adam. "You want to break in and steal her performance reviews?"

Adam nodded tranquilly. "Performance reviews, hiring record, tax records, medical records, whatever we can get our hands on. If they're the ones who transformed Ami into Eve, then _somewhere_ there will be proof -- maybe even a record of the process."

"That's really a stretch," Megabyte scoffed.

Jade studied Adam's face for a moment. "You're really convinced that they did this. You don't think it was anyone associated with that Lady Mulvaney at all."

Adam shrugged. "Professor Gault or Colonel Masters could still be mixed up in it, I suppose, but I think it unlikely."

Megabyte swigged his coffee and thumped the cup down on the table. Coffee sloshed, but he ignored it. "All right, then. I assume you're going to want me to break into the computers. Who else is going?"

~*~*~

They argued back and forth for an hour or so about who would go, but in the end, it was just Adam and Megabyte who teleported onto the building's roof early in the morning several days later. There were some surprising gaps in the building's security, including a lack of surveillance cameras on the roof. From there, it was a simple matter of using telekinesis to unlock the rooftop access door and slip inside the building. Both were dressed in decent-quality suits, and Megabyte had been given a makeover by his sister, of all people. Millie, who worked at WorldEx for their father, was used to hiding her own flaming coloring with cosmetics; she had dulled Megabyte's distinctive hair, so that it was more of a dark blonde. While they hoped to not interact with anyone while in the building, if they did, they wanted be as unmmemorable as possible, as well as not standing out to surveillance.

It went without saying that they intended to avoid Ami at all costs, though they had arrived at the building half an hour or so before she usually did, and intended to be gone by the time she stepped through the door. 

They walked down the staircase from the rooftop access door with no attempt at subterfuge. _Act as if you own the place,_ General Damon had advised. _Look like you belong._ Hence the suits.

Although they hadn't wanted to tell him what they planned, in the end, it had been unavoidable. He had been in the building numerous times and could tell them where they were most likely to find the sort of computer access that Megabyte would need in order to get information on Eve Moneypenny.

"The best place, of course," Damon had said, "would be M's office, but you definitely don't want to go there."

"M?" Megabyte raised his brows.

His father shrugged. "The head of MI6 has been traditionally known only by an initial. The previous head was also known as M. You would be able to access all of their network through her computer, but if you got caught there...well, you'd have to teleport _really_ quickly, and then just to be safe, you'd want to stay on the island for several years, and maybe never come to London again for the rest of your lives."

Megabyte laughed, but Adam studied General Damon's sour expression. "You're serious."

Damon nodded. "MI6 takes breaches very seriously. They are responsible for...well, it's none of your business what they're responsible for, but if either of you were caught there, it would be disastrous for not only the Tomorrow People, but for me and WorldEx as well. At the very least, Megabyte's mother and Millie and I would be expelled from the country. And before we went, we'd have to answer some very tough questions."

"So don't mess this up," Adam said softly.

"Don't mess this up," the general agreed.

_:I disagree with Dad, you know,:_ Megabyte said to Adam, as they descended the stairs.

_:I know,:_ Adam replied. _:I could tell. While I don't think your father would normally give us bad advice -- and really, I don't think he has this time, either -- I think we need to go to this M's office and use the computer there. We can't take the risk of wandering all over the building looking for the information we need.:_

_:Can we teleport there directly?:_ Megabyte's father had supplied a schematic of the building, but Adam had studied it more thoroughly than Megabyte had.

Adam nodded wordlessly, then opened his mind to Megabyte, who linked with him. Together, they teleported. They materialized facing the windows of an office that was something of a fishbowl, with windows behind the desk and a glass wall facing it, with a door directly in the center. Beyond the wall were several other desks. Megabyte whistled. "Nice view." 

Adam turned to the rest of the room, scanning the other desks, before moving toward the one closest to the windows. "There's the computer," he hissed.

Megabyte pulled out the desk's chair, settled in it, and got to work. After a moment, he looked up. "There's something wrong here."

Adam looked back from the door where he was keeping watch. "What do you mean?"

Megabyte gestured at the computer. "Someone else has been in this system. Someone really good." He shrugged. "Not as good as me, but still...."

"How can you tell?"

Megabyte shrugged helplessly. "I don't know if I can tell you. It's just...things aren't quite right. I doubt this M has noticed. And probably none of her staff would have any reason to use her computer."

Adam frowned. "Does it matter? Will you be able to hide our tracks?" He glanced at his wristwatch. "We need to get moving. Ami will be getting here any minute."

"Relax," Megabyte said, turning back to the computer. "She's hardly going to come in here; it's not her office."

"Maybe not," Adam said. "But what if she works out there?" He gestured at the desks on the other side of the office's glass wall.

"Really," Megabyte scoffed. "How likely is that?"

"Really, really, really likely," Adam said, diving behind the desk and pulling Megabyte to the floor. _:She just got off the elevator.:_

Megabyte rolled his eyes. _:Great. With this sort of luck, I should've bought a lottery ticket.:_

_:If she's here, it means M will be here, any second,:_ Adam said, his tone urgent.

_:Relax. She's got a meeting this morning,:_ Megabyte responded. _:She won't be in until later.:_ He grinned at Adam. _:I checked her calendar as soon as I got into the system.:_

Adam blew a breath out. _:Were you ever going to tell me?:_

Megabyte shrugged. _:Probably?: What's Ami doing?:_

Adam peered out from behind the desk. _:I can't see her.:_ He got cautiously to his knees and peered over the top of the desk. _:She's not out there. Maybe she went for a coffee?:_

Megabyte popped his head up, too, but there was still no sign of Ami. _:That was close. I wonder what she was doing up here.:_

_:Didn't your dad say she was transferred because she shot another agent? Maybe this M wanted to keep an eye on her. How much longer?:_

Megabyte indicated the flash drive he'd plugged into one of the computer's USB ports. _:I'm going as fast as the technology allows. But we should be nearly finished. I've got her medical records -- she sees an agency doctor, so it's all here -- and I'm downloading her employment record right now...and done.:_ He ejected the flash drive and set about covering his tracks in the computer. His head came up and he frowned. _:Adam...do you hear that?:_

At the same time, Adam said, _:Do you smell something?:_

Their eyes wide, they both said, _:Gas leak!:_

_:Teleport!:_ Adam commanded. _:Go!:_

~*~*~

Since being assigned the desk near M's office, Eve had done her best to get in a little later than her boss, so they could more easily avoid each other. This particular day, though, M had a meeting that was likely to last a good portion of the morning, so Eve had gone in a little early. As she walked toward her desk, a flicker of motion from the direction of M's office caught her attention, but when she craned her neck to look, there was nothing there. A reflection on the glass, most likely. She settled at her desk, then realized that she had forgotten to take her migraine medication. She frowned. Since returning from Istanbul, she'd become rather sloppy about her medication regimen, probably as a result of the change in routine. At least twice a week, now, she was only remembering to take it when she felt the first beginnings of a headache. And she hadn't brought any tea this morning, so she had nothing to take it with. She could, and would, swallow it dry if necessary, but she'd really rather not. She sighed. A trip downstairs to the cantina was in order. She grabbed her debit card from her wallet and headed for the elevator, not bothering to shoulder her purse. If it wasn't safe in the heart of MI-6, it wasn't safe anywhere.

She was just exiting the elevator near the cantina when the sound of an explosion tore through the building, followed immediately by a concussion that picked Eve up like a rag doll and dashed her against the wall. 

Darkness followed.

~*~*~

Jade's eyes widened as fear swamped the passive merge she and Lisa had been holding open to Adam and Megabyte. She waited just long enough to make sure they were safe -- as with all unfocused teleports, the beacon had caught them. All these years, and they still hadn't managed to refocus the beacon; Kevin theorized that it was because the ship was partly underwater.

"They're okay," Lisa said. "They're swimming to the beach."

Jade nodded. "I saw." She walked into the lounge, Lisa trailing behind. "Where's the damned remote?" She scowled, then closed her eyes, and willed the thing into her hand telekinetically. When it slid onto her palm, she turned the television on, tuning it to a news channel. She and Lisa exchanged a horrified look as footage of a huge explosion at the MI6 building played.

The phone rang just as Adam and Megabyte, both sopping wet, walked into the room. Lisa made a sound of annoyance and two bath towels floated into the room a moment later, one flopping at Megabyte's feet as he grabbed the phone.

"Dad!" he exclaimed, while Adam moved farther into the room, absently toweling his hair and staring at the television.

"No, of course, we didn't have anything to do with it," Megabyte said, rolling his eyes. "No, Dad. We smelled the gas and got out of there."

"We need to go back," Adam said abruptly. He made an impatient noise while everyone else stared at him, even Megabyte. The general could be heard through the receiver, asking a question.

"I'll call you back, Dad," Megabyte said absently. "Adam's just gone off the deep end." He hung the phone up. "What do you mean, we have to go back?"

Adam gestured at the television. "We can't leave her there, now. What if she's injured? Look at the footage, Megabyte. That explosion happened in that office. We know she was in the building, even if she wasn't right there."

Doubt crossed Megabyte's mobile face. 

"Think about it, Megabyte," Jade said. "They're going to be sorting this for a while; it's our best chance to just teleport away with her."

"We can take her to the island," Lisa added. "Maybe the Ship can put her in stasis until we have a chance to go over her records and find out what they did to her."

Megabyte sighed. "All right. But not all of us."

Jade looked like she was about to protest, but Adam stepped in. "No, he's right. Lisa, why don't you go stay with Mrs. Jackson, and Jade, go visit General Damon. It's simpler if we can stay in touch with them both, and easier -- and safer -- if we don't have to rely on phones. Plus, you can transport them to the island, once we have Ami."

Megabyte fished in his pocket and tossed the flash drive to Jade. "See if my dad can get anything from this." 

She nodded, and stuffed it into her own pocket. "Will do."

"You two should probably get changed," Lisa said, "you're soaked."

Adam shrugged. "Something like that will probably have triggered the sprinkler system. We should be safe enough."

"Besides," Megabyte said, "if we're going to resort to kidnapping after all, there's no point in being subtle about it."

Jade raised an eyebrow. "Are you aware that you have mascara running down your face, Megabyte?"

"I just got dunked in the ocean, Jade. Of course I do."

Jade sighed. "Millie should've used waterproof."

Megabyte scowled. "We weren't planning an ocean swim when we did it, Jade. I'll make sure to factor that in the next time I'm going to sneak around a top secret government office. Oh, wait -- too late."

Adam rolled his eyes. "Stop arguing, you two. We need to get Ami." He flickered from existence, and Megabyte followed him, still scowling.

~*~*~

The golden light welcomes her like a long lost friend, and enfolds her like a soft blanket; she floats in its timeless peace. She dreams of people knows, and those she has known. Faces, one after another: friends, family, even enemies. But she cannot name them. Cannot hold them, and eventually, they all fade into the light, leaving only herself. Warm. Comfortable. Floating, as one last image, a tower mostly buried in sand, merges with the light.

~*~*~

Adam and Megabyte materialized into a dark, but mostly intact, corridor. It was also, thankfully, empty, except for the body at the base of a wall. Megabyte felt for a pulse while Adam carefully ran fingers over Ami's skull.

 _:She's alive,:_ Megabyte reported. 

A collective sigh of relief ran through the link.

_:Huge bump on the back of her head, though,:_ Adam added. _:Let's get to the island. Lisa, bring Mrs. Jackson. Jade, can the general get away?:_

_:He's ready to go when we are,:_ Jade replied.

_:We're already here,:_ Lisa added. _:Ami's Mom didn't want to sit around her kitchen, waiting.:_

_:So she's sitting around a beach instead?:_ Megabyte said -- but only to Adam, who flashed him a tight smile, as he gathered Ami close. _:Meet you there.:_

They materialized one after another inside the ship. _:We're here, Lisa:_ Adam said, _:but don't bring Mrs. Jackson down until we've had a chance to get Ami settled.:_

_:Okay. Jade just got here with Megabyte's dad, so they're having a discussion. General Damon seems really excited about something.:_ Lisa was silent a moment. _:I think he found something useful on the flash drive. He brought a laptop with him, and he's asking you to come up, Megabyte.:_

_:As soon as Ami is settled,:_ Megabyte said. He helped Adam to his feet, and together they telekinetically moved Ami to one of the podlike bed alcoves deeper in the Ship. As Ami came into contact with it, the Ship made a peculiar hooting sound, and the alcove was bathed in golden light.

"I think she's excited to see Ami again," Adam remarked.

"You can say that again. I've never seen her so happy." Megabyte caressed the wall nearest him. "We found her," he said to the Ship. "We brought her home."

"We hope," Adam added. With a last look at Ami, the two of them teleported outside.

When they were much younger, Adam had occasionally lived in a tent on the beach, but as time had passed, and the core group of Tomorrow People was joined by others, it had become necessary to build something a little more permanent. Small huts dotted the tiny island, all camouflaged just in case the island was overflown. They only had to worry about physical sightings; the Ship's own signals -- including the beacon that drew in inexperienced teleporters -- hid the island from satellites and other electronic discovery. At any one time, all of the huts might be occupied, or none of them; at the moment, they had the island to themselves.

They found the others gathered in the hut nearest the Ship, not far from where Adam had originally put his tent. The huts weren't fancy, but since each Tomorrow Person could carry a lot of weight when teleporting, the furnishings were more comfortable than lawn chairs. General Damon was seated at the table in the center of the hut, scrolling through some information on the laptop; when they entered, he got up immediately, and indicated that Megabyte should take his seat.

"What did you find, Dad?"

"It's entirely possible that I was wrong about you accessing the computer in M's office," he replied. He gestured at the laptop, a slightly sour expression on his face. "There are some encrypted files attached to Eve Moneypenny's records, and it looks like they're probably keyed to M only."

Megabyte slid into the chair. He stretched his fingers with the theatricality of a stage magician, then got to work.

"How is she?" Hasana Jackson asked Adam.

"She was knocked unconscious in the explosion," Adam replied. "She has a nasty bump on her head, but a strong pulse. The Ship is taking care of her at the moment, and has placed her in a kind of healing stasis. She won't wake up until we've found a way to help her."

Mrs. Jackson closed her eyes for a moment. "What if you can't find a way? What then?"

Lisa and Jade moved up beside her; Jade put an arm around Mrs. Jackson's shoulder. "It's okay, girls," she said. "I'm all right. But it's a question that needs to be asked."

Adam met her eyes. "If we can't help her, then we'll return her to London. Maybe to her house." He shrugged. "In all the confusion, and with a head injury, it would be totally believable that she woke up and somehow made her way home. But that's a last resort."

"Don't lose hope just yet," Jade murmured.

"No," Mrs. Jackson replied. "Not just yet."

"Do you want to one of us to take you down to the Ship?" Adam offered.

Mrs. Jackson shook her head. "No, thank you, Adam. I would rather stay up here for now. Ami is safe where she is, and I couldn't bear to have her in reach and lose her again."

For the next quarter of an hour, they sat around the little hut in silence, listening to the clicking of laptop keys as Megabyte worked. The five of them watched his every little frown and grimace and pause to think as if he were the most interesting entertainment in the world, but if he was aware of their scrutiny, he gave no sign. Kevin joined them, whispering that the building had been cleared, and the death toll was six, with numerous injuries. "They're blaming a gas leak," he said softly.

"It _was_ a gas leak," Adam replied. "We were there."

"I don't think it was a leak," Megabyte said. He looked up from the laptop, blinking. "Remember I said someone else had been in the system? Just before we teleported, I saw what looked like a command to override the safeties on the environmental systems on that floor."

"Just on that floor?" his father said sharply.

He nodded. "Yeah, I think so."

"What are you thinking, Bill?" Mrs. Jackson asked.

The general didn't answer right away. "MI6 has been having some trouble," he said, at last. "And it's got the intelligence community in something of an uproar. It's actually related to the mission that Eve was on when the other agent was shot. If the command was for that floor only, then this attack was aimed right at M."

Mrs. Jackson looked away for a moment. "Good," she said, at last. A heavy silence followed. She looked around the room at the others. "If this woman had anything at all to do with what happened to my Ami, then she can rot in hell, and all of her people with her."

No one dared say anything -- not even telepathically. Mrs. Jackson sighed. "Megabyte, did you find anything?"

Megabyte nodded. "Yeah. But some of it I don't understand." He looked at his father. "And some of it looks like it comes from the DSI, Dad." 

"What? Those records were supposed to be destroyed." General Damon took the laptop his son passed to him and scanned the information that Megabyte had unlocked. "Dammit. This is all of Colonel Masters' and Professor Gault's reports. Everything we had on teleporters, including the identities of Lisa, Kevin, Adam, and a certain red-headed kid who kept getting in the way." He glared at Megabyte.

His son laughed weakly. "Sorry?"

"But what about Ami?" Mrs. Jackson asked impatiently.

"Yes, sorry. Important stuff first," Damon said. He scanned through the information. "Her medical records indicate that they were treating her for migraines. She had a regular prescription which was filled in-house...." He clicked through a few more pages, frowned, clicked some more, then whistled. "Wow."

He looked up to find everyone's eyes on him. "It's all here. Drug-induced amnesia and retraining."

"Brainwashing," Adam said flatly.

Damon nodded. "Essentially. Except in Ami's case, the only way it would take was for them to continually dose her with low levels of a drug that blocked her powers, because otherwise her mind just reset itself. It looks like our old friend Professor Gault developed the drug, along with a Doctor Marsh, who just happens to be Eve Moneypenny's primary physician. The drug is disguised as her migraine medication."

"How do we fix it, Dad?" Megabyte asked.

"Well, I'm not a doctor, but all of her medical reports were written in layman's terms for M, who apparently _was_ aware of Ami's actual identity. It seems that they were also watching for some sort of break to happen in the wake of the shooting of this other agent...holy shit."

There was a collective gasp. "Language, Dad!" Megabyte said, gleefully.

Damon cleared his throat and looked up. "Sorry. I just found the name of the agent that Ami shot, and it's...well, none of you would recognize the name, but he's something of a legend in the intelligence community. I knew that he'd died -- I saw his obituary -- but, wow." He shook his head, then seemed to collect himself. "Sorry, again. More unnecessary information. To answer your question, Megabyte, it looks as though we just need to let her system purge itself of the drug. Her powers should return, and her mind should reset."

"But what about the headaches?" Mrs. Jackson asked. "Remember when she saw me, she seemed to get one."

Damon nodded. "Yes. I think it might be best to keep her unconscious until her system is clear, and that should take care of the headaches. The Ship can do that, right, without introducing yet more drugs into her system?"

"Yes," Adam said. "Yes, it can." He smiled. "It can. We can get her back. We can get Ami back."

Mrs. Jackson sobbed.

~*~*~

There is music now, deep, soothing basoon-like notes. The light seems to throb in time to the sounds, yet it is still peaceful. Soothing. Quiet. It inspires stillness. Rest. The laying down of burdens.

She floats for a long time that is no time. Still and quiet. Gradually, she becomes aware of brighter, brassier tones threaded like quicksilver through the deeper sounds. The music seems almost like voices as she floats at rest. Still peaceful, somehow, but almost like it is calling her toward something.

Like parting veils, the light thins, becomes less all-encompassing. She begins to see faces again. Faces that she knows. Adam. Megabyte. Kevin. Jade. Lisa. Her mother.

Ami opens her eyes, and she can still see her mother's face. She seems older somehow, more careworn. Still, Ami smiles at her. "Hi, Mum."

Her mother's hands fly to her mouth and tears spill from her eyes, even as she smiles down at her daughter.

"Hello, my dear. Hello." And then her mother is gathering her into an embrace, and Ami thinks how long it has been since she has had such comfort, as the last of the Shiplight fades around her.

~*~*~

"What do you remember?"

It was the morning after her awakening and a very emotional reunion with her mother and her friends. Ami should have felt wrung out, but she felt...good. Steady. Balanced. She and General Damon sat across the table from one another in the hut on the beach. None of the others had been allowed into this meeting. Damon was perfectly well aware that Ami might choose to share everything with the others. There was nothing he could do about that, but he had asked to speak to her alone, anyway.

Ami met the general's eyes. "I remember everything. I remember being kidnapped. I remember surfacing occasionally. I remember being Eve Moneypenny. I remember shooting Doub--ah, the other agent." She cocked her head, raising a finger to her temple. "It's all still in here. But I'm Ami again, too. It's a little...weird."

The general smiled crookedly. "I imagine so."

"It's kind of like," Ami paused, thinking. "When I was a teenager, I was taken over by an evil power for a day or so, and I could see everything that was going on, but couldn't do anything to affect it. It's not exactly the same; it's not like I have two separate personalities or anything, but all of the training and knowledge I was given as Eve is still here."

"Marksmanship? Secret agent stuff?"

Ami nodded, a smile crinkling her eyes. "Yup. All still there."

General Damon nodded. Ami saw him take a deep breath as though steeling himself for something. "What will you do? Will you go back to work?"

Ami raised her eyebrows. "Go back? Why would I go back?" She stared at the general, but she was already working through it. "Oh. Oh, of course. They knew. The only way to be safe -- for _all_ of us to be safe -- is to continue on as though nothing had changed." She looked over her shoulder at the door of the hut where she could sense her mother waiting. "But what about Mum? I wouldn't be able to see my mum."

"Why not?" the general asked. "There's no reason you couldn't teleport into the house and out again. You're not stuck with buses and the Tube any longer."

Ami huffed a laugh. "Of course not. I'm going to have to take a little time to adjust. But what about the drugs? They'd expect me to report immediately for a new prescription."

"Perhaps." Damon shrugged. "Perhaps not. Their computer systems are a mess -- the attack was carried out via computer -- _and_ they're in the middle of moving to more secure quarters. If the records are lost or unintelligible...."

"I know that Megabyte is good," Ami said, "but good enough to fool Q-Branch's computer experts? And what about Doctor Marsh?"

"If my son were more ambitious," General Damon said dryly, "he could rule the world. In a word, yes. He _is_ that good." He paused. "You don't actually need to tell him that I said so."

"I wouldn't dream of it." Ami smiled. 

Damon cleared his throat. "As for Doctor Marsh, you can always fill the prescriptions and then dump the pills. In _any_ case, it seems that the government is now interested in telepaths. You are in a unique position to help the Tomorrow People."

"As long as I don't get caught," Ami pointed out.

The general nodded. "As long as you don't get caught. But you won't, will you. Because you already know what can happen, and because they've given you exactly the training you need to keep not only yourself, but all of the Tomorrow People, safe."

Ami nodded, and there was more than a hint of Eve in her voice. "Yes. Yes, they have. But General...I won't be able to kill anyone else. Now that I'm not Eve anymore, that's the one thing I cannot do."

"With luck, you won't be in that situation again."

"Well," Ami said. "Here's to luck, then."

~*~*~

On the evening of the same day that Ami reported back to work -- having turned up outside the bombed-out MI6 building acting dazed, and giving them the story concocted by Adam -- Bond turned up in M's home. Ami hadn't killed him, after all. That explained why she had never seen him fall in her dreams; he wasn't dead. She found that deeply satisfactory for two reasons -- she hadn't _killed_ a man, and she actually, genuinely _liked_ him.

She did one more field assignment, traveling to Macau to briefly back Bond up again -- fortunately, the only weapon she needed this time was a case full of cash, though she did have a gun strapped to her thigh -- but when she returned to London, she requested permanent reassignment as Gareth Mallory's assistant.

Several days later, a worm quietly crawled through MI-6's systems -- still in disarray from the cyber attack -- and deleted all mention of telepaths, teleporters, telekinetics, and, incidentally, telemarketers. It likely wouldn't hold; someday, some bright spark who read too much science fiction would undoubtedly get the idea that what Britain needed was telepathic spies, then someone else would remember something about crazy old Lady Mulvaney, and they would have to be on their guard again. But for now? They had the space to breathe, and quietly help others as they appeared. 

And that was as it should be.

**Author's Note:**

> This story has been in progress since shortly after _Skyfall_ was released. I thought maybe it was time to finish it, and Trope Bingo Amnesty seemed like a good time, especially since I got a card that once again had a Mind Control square. (I think it was on my first card, way back in Round 1.)
> 
> This story is unbeta'd.
> 
> I can't remember now where I found that Ami's mother's name was Hasana. I was going to call her Olivia until I found out that M's name is Olivia....
> 
> And speaking of M, I've always rather thought that she might be related to Lady Mulvaney. Sister or sister-in-law or cousin or something, and that was how she got her hands on the records about teleporters....


End file.
